Do you have your filter on a timer?

[Leehicks79]

My pump only has one speed. I have been running it 24/7. Will an outdoor timer for Christmas lights work? No codes where I live.

[PoolDoc]

Will an outdoor timer for Christmas lights work? No codes where I live.

Almost certainly not -- a pump timer MUST have a horsepower rating. If it does not, attempting to use the timer will probably just destroy the timer, usually fairly quickly.

[CarlD]

If the pump's draw on electric is too great it could burn out the timer. Depends on how many amps the timer can handle.

[PoolDoc]

Carl, it's more complicated than that.

When you CLOSE the contacts, to turn the a pump motor ON, you can have a high current inrush that is sometimes a full multiple of the maximum running amps. But what tends to kill timers and relays is the induced current overload that results when you OPEN the contacts, to turn the pump OFF. This results in the timer (or relay) having to BREAK a much larger current than the maximum current the circuit carries.

This is the reason a relay that is rated for a 30A resistive load may only be rated for 1HP 110V motor load -- that is nominally about 8 or 9 amps. If you try to use a 10A resistive relay for a 1HP 110v motor load, you'll tend to burn out the contacts very quickly.